President's Message 5/30/2007
May 30, 2007
To the members of the Indiana Radiological Society and guests:
It is my pleasure to welcome you to our web-site. I am honored to serve as president this year. We, the members of the Indiana Radiological Society are the organized voice of radiologists in our state, and are the representative voice of Indiana radiologists with the American College of Radiology.
I thank the officers of the Society and the committee members and chairmen who give of their valuable time to advance the concerns and positions of our organization and specialty to the benefit of the patients and communities we serve. We deeply appreciate the support of the general membership to those ends. Your financial contributions to the Society in the form of annual dues make our efforts possible. We invite all to lend their personal participation to our cause as well.
I am not the first to say how important, exciting, challenging, and rewarding our profession is. Our services have truly revolutionized the practice of medicine in less than a generation. The diagnostic capability our modalities provide us has led to significant, measurable improvement in disease outcomes and survival. Our treatments are among the most advanced in the entire field of medicine. Our commitment as a profession to quality standards has converted conditions of only twenty years ago to vague memories that would be unrecognizable to newer members of our field. I speak of course, about the certification of Mammography facilities, to which we owe our thanks to the College.
We continue to face challenges in our field. Inappropriate utilization, self-referral, and declining levels of reimbursement are increasing threats to the progress we have all observed and, perhaps soon, clear obstacles to the availability of invaluable services. These issues continue to be addressed and vigorously pursued by the College on our behalf, and to the benefit of our patients. Among the many fronts upon which these challenges can be met include adoption of utilization criteria, limits on self-referral, and general adoption of CT and MRI certification. Please familiarize yourself with these issues and let your feelings be known to your officers, your colleagues, your patients, and your legislators.
At the recent Annual meeting of the ACR and Chapter Leadership conference in Washington DC, all these issues were brought to the attention of members of Congress in the form of personal visits by attendees to Capitol Hill. Our thanks go to the staff of the College in arranging those most valuable sessions. Our Chapter had the distinction of having two of our number elected to the ACR Steering Committee. Please join me in offering our congratulations and appreciation to Dr. Robert Tarver and Dr. Kimberly Applegate, our President-elect. It is truly well-deserved for both of them, and we as a Chapter are privileged to count them among us. I would also like to acknowledge the participation of our members-in training: Dr. Shannon Powell, Dr. Todd Mitchell and Dr. Rajul Mehta. We are fortunate to have people of their caliber to continue our mission. Also let me extend on behalf of the Chapter recognition and gratitude to Sally Pierson who is so ably carrying out the many duties of IRS Chapter Coordinator.
In closing, I want to thank Dr. Wehrenberg for his service as president. I will strive to serve in a manner that is worthy of those who have preceded me in this office. Please mark your calendars for October 6, 2007 and join us at the Fall Meeting. All are welcome, all are needed, and all roads lead to Indy.
Sincerely,
John E. DePersio, MD
President, Indiana Radiological Society